So I've taken the last couple of hours to vent, and now that I've had some time to gather my thoughts, I'm going to try to state them as rationally as possible. I invite you all to do the same. I'm not angry that we got Shane Battier. He's a good player and a great professional. This is the type of guy I want on this team. He defends, he rebounds, he hustles, and he can shoot the ball. I'll cheer loudly for him next year. That having been said, I think that Rudy Gay was the best talent in this draft. I truly feel like he can be a legitimately great player, and at the very least I think he'd already be a solid NBA starter. At the very least, I think he'll be a tremendous defender on the NBA level, and a good rebounder. What bothers me the most about this trade is that I think that if Gay works hard and develops his game, he could be an All-Star in two years. I believe that we could have been looking at a potential dynasty in Houston. I don't think we got fair value for who was, in my opinion, the top talent in the draft. I wouldn't be surprised if we could have gotten Battier for Stro and next year's first rounder, and KEPT Gay. People keep saying that this move freed up capspace, but I don't see how. All in all, this trade just makes me feel as though CD, Morey, and JVG didn't do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Rudy will be a bust. Or maybe another trade is in the works. But right now I'm angry and confused and I don't feel like this organization knows what it's doing.
I would have felt better if this was for 8 for shane, and a future first. Not only do we not get a future first but we trade stromile. Learning about the addition of Stro in the trade made a bad trade worse. Now my only wish is that Stro dunks in Howards grill and takes a few of his teeth out.
I wish we could trade coaches. JVG needs STFU and let CD and MOREY do their jobs. This has to be the worst trade since we get Griffin for Jefferson.
I'm not so disappointed that we traded Gay for Battier, but throwing in Stro is what really gets me. If the Grizz wanted Gay that bad, then the trade should've been Gay and Howard for Battier. If they can't roll with that, then screw them and pick the most NBA ready player at that spot (since JVG can't handle a 19 yo) and go with it. Also, I know many here aren't too fond of Stro, but I think the guy should've gotten more than a year to prove himself here. The part that really pisses me off, you just know Gay is going to become a good player and Stro will go back to the play of, well, his Memphis days. I'm sure he'll be throwing down a dunk or two on Yao next year.
I think in the short term (next couple years), this trade will help us. In the long term, if Gay turns out to be a very good NBA player, this will hurt. But it's not like we'll lose out on a third superstar. If Gay eventually turns out to be that good, I don't think we'd have been able to give him a max contract.
Gay and Juwon for Battier and #24? Awesome! Gay and Juwon for Battier? Fine! Gay and Swift for Battier? Disappointed! JVG is a great basketball mind but I think his ego really F'd up this team for a long time; it's like he's blind to where the game basketball is headed too.
Battier is a nice player. He's one of the better defensive players in the league and is a really, really efficient offensive player. The allure of players with upside has gotten a lot of teams in trouble, so I don't mind trading away a player like Gay who has all that talent but completely disappears. Screw that. Don't waste Yao and Tracy on potential. Battier for Gay is fine with me. If Gay were a sure thing 7 other teams in a weak draft would not have bypassed him. If Battier was an explosive, rather than an efficient offensive force he would not be availble to us. That's a fair exchange. However, I am confounded with the Rockets giving up on Swift so quickly and not getting anybody in return. Hopefully, this will be a prelude to getting a few more pieces. There *has* to be a move for power forward in the works with this roster and draft.
we won 2 games that we should have lost. So we lost the chance to get Roy. Then we got another talented Gay. We traded him because he is SO young! Cd/JVG created such a fun game to watch!
